


The Kissing Booth

by rowofstars



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Kissing Booths, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 06:19:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowofstars/pseuds/rowofstars
Summary: Belle is running a kissing booth to raise money for the library. When Gaston approaches, Mr. Gold comes to the rescue.





	The Kissing Booth

**Author's Note:**

> This is dumb and silly. It was sort of intended as a faux "body swap" that was meant to be funny, for the August prompt at @a-monthly-rumbelling, but it fell a little short. I have another idea for that prompt now. Enjoy my nonsense. Unbeta'd so I'm sure it's riddled with errors!

Rumford Gold looked across the town square, sighing as Belle French pushed up on her toes to kiss Archie Hopper on the cheek. She dropped back on her heels with a wide smile, and Dr. Hopper laughed, waving as he walked away from the kissing booth. Gold watched as Leroy stepped up next, dropping a few bills in the fundraising bucket before he grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

Belle shook her head and gave him an amused look before pressing her lips to his scruffy cheek. She made an exaggerated, wet smooching sound, and Leroy pretended to be disgusted. When she pulled away, the two of them dissolved into giggles.

Gold frowned and glanced around at the rest of the Founder’s Day festival. It was always well attended by the town residents, perhaps more so this year with the added push of a fundraiser to keep the library open, but he rarely ventured out into the fray. The milling crowd, carnival games, and loud music were of no interest to him, but for Belle French he would make any number of exceptions.

Two years ago she breezed into Storybrooke, following her lazy oaf of a father, and blew open the long sealed doors of the library and Gold’s heart. She was vibrant, beautiful, and smart, with a contagious attitude and an impulsive streak that had served her very well in getting the library reopened and the community reengaged. But a sequence of misfortunes with the old building, and a bad storm a few weeks ago, had set her back significantly. The library was now closed due to damage to the roof and some potentially dangerous electrical issues. Several rows of books had been ruined by the rain water and would need replacement as well.

The small town couldn’t afford all of the repairs on its lean budget, so the idea of a fundraiser was born. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the donations were going to be nearly enough. Ruby Lucas’s pie booth was doing well, but she was selling more single pieces than whole pies, and the townsfolk only needed so many of Sister Astrid’s candles. The kissing booth Belle had setup manning was certainly popular, but even someone as pretty and popular as she was wouldn’t make much from a town that had been on the economic downslide for a decade and a half.

Leroy had been a repeat customer, but Gold knew firsthand how slim the miner’s discretionary income was. The wealthier residents like Albert Spencer, and his law partner Edward Midas, never attended these affairs, and probably wouldn’t contribute at all to the project given their original objections to reopening the library. They could perhaps be persuaded if the rest of the town council was in favor, or if Mayor Mills pushed them, but the giving out of the goodness of their hearts, or lack thereof, was unlikely.

Leroy left the booth and Belle sat back down in her lawn chair. Her face immediately fell, revealing the despair she tried so hard to keep at bay, and Gold felt his chest ache for her. She was so good and wonderful, and she deserved to have her library. 

The town deserved it too, he thought, and sighed.

Gary Gaston crossed the street, headed towards the kissing booth, and Belle visibly recoiled. The lumbering buffoon of a man, with more muscles than brains, had been harassing her off and on since she’d moved to town. He never seemed to take no for an answer. 

Gold scowled and gripped the handle of his cane hard, squeezing it until his knuckles were white. He decided he’d had enough of this nonsense as he slipped in front of Gaston.

“Pardon me,” he said with a snide smile. Then he flashed his teeth at the other man, knowing how unsettling it was when combined with his blank, dead eye stare. “Ah, Mr. Gaston. I’ve been looking for you.”

Gaston took an awkward step back and swallowed hard. “Oh, uh, Mr. Gold. Why, uh, why were you looking for me?”

Gold glanced at Belle who was watching the exchange with wide eyes. “I wanted to remind you that your second loan payment is due on Monday. In case you forgot. _Again._ ”

There was an implication in the way he said ‘again’ that had Gaston backing away from the booth in a hurry.

“R-right,” he stammered. “Yep. No problem.”

Gold took a step towards him, planting his cane in front of him and folding his hands over it as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He could feel Belle’s eyes on him, and feared his little display with Gaston was frightening her as well.

“Why are you leaving so quickly?” Gold asked.

“I, um, I didn’t realize you were next in line,” Gaston managed, forcing a smile that wavered with nerves. “Go - go right ahead.”

Gold’s head tilted to the side. “Aren’t you going to leave a donation? It’s for the library after all.” He turned and motioned with his hand towards Belle’s booth. “I might even be so kind as to take it off of your next payment.”

Gaston glanced to Belle and then back to Gold, before carefully sliding his wallet out of his pocket. He withdrew several bills, pausing to show them to Gold before he shoved them in the bucket. There was another nervous look thrown in his direction, and then Belle stepped forward, assuming she’d be expected to provide her end of the exchange.

“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary, Miss French,” Gold said smoothly. “Mr. Gaston was just being charitable. Isn’t that right?”

Gaston nodded quickly and held up his hands. “Yeah, yeah, no problem.”

“In fact,” Gold continued, his eyes shifting to Belle. His lips curved into a slight smile when he saw her eyes, wide and bright, with a mixture of confusion and what seemed like admiration, “I _think_ Mr. Gaston will be so busy making sure he has enough money to pay off his loan, that you won’t be seeing very much of him anymore.”

Another look had Gaston babbling his apologies and scurrying off, and Gold took a deep breath, wishing he’d done that ages ago. He turned back to Belle, his face softening immediately. “I’m very sorry for that...display.”

Belle shook her head. “No need to apologize, Mr. Gold.” She bit her lip and started to smile. “I believe I should be thanking you. That was the biggest donation I’ve had all day.”

Gold frowned as his gaze was drawn to the donation bucket. He could see the shadow of the money in it through the white plastic. It was as he suspected, mostly spare change and singles, hardly what she needed, but unfortunately about all of what the town’s citizens could spare. The library would close, the community would suffer, and Belle would eventually have to leave town and find another job. He knew what he had to do, for her as much as the town he’d lived in for almost twenty years. 

His figured his admiration and affection for her was finally affecting him. He was actually considering starting to care about others. “How much are you short?” he asked.

Belle blinked and seemed startled by his question. “Uh, well…” She peered into the bucket and then looked at her little notebook, her mouth curved downward as she read off the amounts for the repairs.

Gold shook his head and then slipped a sleek, black pen and leather checkbook from his inside jacket pocket. He flipped it open, wrote an amount that was just over half of the total Belle had given him, and then scribbled his signature with a flourish. He carefully tore the check free, and finally met Belle’s eyes, holding out the payment for her between two fingers.

She stared in disbelief and slipped it from his hand, letting out a soft gasp when she saw how much he had given. Silence stretched between them as she kept looking from the fine ink lines on the check to his face and back again.

“This is…” she started, and then pressed her lips together, shaking her head as emotion overwhelmed her.

“Please don’t say it’s too much. The library is very much needed here.” He paused and swallowed before adding, “As are you.”

His voice was thick with unsaid feelings and he hoped that maybe she would understand what he couldn’t say right now. His donation wouldn’t pay for all the needed repairs, but it would be enough to get started, and it would give him time to convince Mayor Mills, Albert Spencer, and the rest of the town council that maybe the town should start investing in itself.

She caught his gaze again, holding for a long moment until she smiled. Her eyes were just a touch darker than usual and her tongue pushed at her lips a bit suggestively before she spoke. “This will buy you a lot of kisses, Mr. Gold.”

Her voice was soft and lower than usual, and Gold felt a sharp pull in his belly as his eyes drifted down to her mouth. “That - that won’t be -”

He meant to say ‘that won’t be necessary’ but what came out was a very high pitched squeaky noise as Belle French grabbed hold of his tie and pulled her to him. Their lips met, bodies leaning awkwardly over the narrow folding table that made up her booth. Her lips were perfect, soft, warm, and just a bit wet, and the pull at his neck and her other hand coming up to slip into his hair made him moan against her mouth.

When they finally parted, he felt dazed and unable to move as her fingers slid down the silk tie. There was a whooping cry from Ruby Lucas in the booth next to them, but they both ignored it. 

Belle smiled slowly, almost salaciously as she straightened, and with his heart thundering in his chest, he knew that definitely wouldn’t be the last time she kissed him. “That’s one,” she said, grinning. “But I think I owe you quite a few more.”

Gold smiled back at her as he smooth his slight wrinkled tie, and hummed with delight. “Perhaps you should close your booth for the rest of the day.”

Belle giggled and raise her eyebrows. “There’s a thought.”

“Or, we could discuss what I’m _owed_ over dinner,” he said, moving around the side of the booth to stand next to her. “And you could take the money to the bank while its still open, and I could watch your booth for you.”

Her eyes widened and she gave him a strange look. “You want to swap with me and man a _kissing_ booth for charity?”

He chuckled. “I think you’ll find I won’t have to snog anyone to get donations.”

Belle licked her lips slowly as she held his gaze. “Deal.”


End file.
